


New Guy

by zelda_addict



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alien Jensen, Alternate Universe - Space, BAMF Jensen, I'll Have a Captain Morgan if I Want, M/M, Mpreg, Not Very Graphic Birth, Pre-Relationship, Pregnant Jensen, Prompt Fill, Random Voltron Reference FTW
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-09
Updated: 2016-07-09
Packaged: 2018-07-22 11:48:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7436962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zelda_addict/pseuds/zelda_addict
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From a prompt by 2people2 in the Livejournal community mpregwinchester's 2014 Comment Meme:</p><p>"Supernatural RPF/Space related premise whether it be Star Trek or original, our boys should be stationed on a spaceship somewhere (because I must, my inner Treky is coming through!) </p><p>I just want Jared to meet Jensen, a new Crew member who is part of an alien race of all men and some of the men can get pregnant. Jensen should be heavily pregnant in this because Mpreg Jensen is awesome! I think it would be cool if the crew isn't really used to that type of thing (maybe the crew is mostly made up of humans from earth or something) and Jensen can sense it and is kind of embarrassed and uncomfortable because of it. And Jared, being the teddy bear of a man he is, tries to make him feel better."</p><p>Chapter one is pretty much that, and it snowballs from there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. New Guy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [2people2](https://archiveofourown.org/users/2people2/gifts).



> So, I remembered having a lot of fun with this prompt anonymously at the time I wrote it, but then I could never find it again. I finally did and decided to claim it and post it here.

Jared huddled in the hall with rest of the ship’s crew, minus Alona and Jeff of course, shamelessly eavesdropping on the argument of the aforementioned exceptions on the bridge.

“You know it’s always been my dream to join the Alliance Fleet!” Alona screeched. “I only talk about it _all the time!_ ”

“I thought it was a vague future goal, not an ‘I’m catching a transport back to Earth in eight standard hours, bye!’ situation!” Jeff snarled back. “For Pete’s sake, we’re an interplanetary freighter, Al--what are we supposed to do without a translator? The least you could have done was give some notice!”

“I _told_ you I was applying again _three months ago!_ It took the acceptance transmission a while to catch up to us, and I can’t be held responsible for other people’s deadlines!”

“How was I supposed to know they’d actually accept you for once?”

There was a resounding slap followed by silence. 

“He had that one coming,” Samantha declared in a low tone, shaking her head. True, Alona had applied to the Fleet Academy about ten times, but a sore spot was a sore spot, and smart people didn’t go poking those.

“I’m sorry.” Captain Morgan’s soft response barely carried through the reinforced blast door. “That was uncalled for. You really are leaving us in a lurch though, kid.”

“I know, and I wish this could have gone down differently.” Alona did sound sad about it. “I’m going. I can’t pass this up.” She sighed. “Can’t you just look for someone in the port? It wouldn’t have to be permanent, you know? Just a sub until you find the right replacement.”

“There _is_ no replacement for you, sweetheart.” All the female crew members sighed and cooed at that. It was so sweet it kind of made Jared want to gag. Charles rolled his eyes next to him, and Jim snorted. “Besides,” Jeff continued, “this was just supposed to be a refueling stop. Andros is fairly new to the Alliance, and the people are pretty secretive. I don’t know whether we could get anyone to talk to us, let alone leave with us!”

“I’m going,” Alona repeated. “You’ll figure something out--you always do.”

As her footsteps approached the door, everyone scrambled to get out of the way and hopefully look like they hadn’t all been listening. Gossip was practically lifeblood to a star freighter crew; deep space could get mighty boring.

Alona gave them each a pointed look in turn. “I _know_ you guys heard all that.”

Samantha stepped forward first, pulling the younger woman into a tight hug. “Good luck, hon. We’re all gonna miss you.”

This was followed by a round of awkward but heartfelt goodbyes.

Jared knew the freighter was scheduled to move onward with their delivery route within the next two standard Earth days, and it seemed impossible to comprehend that within a matter of hours, Alona would be gone and replaced by a new and very likely temporary substitute. Though he was sad to see his friend and honorary little sister go, he was also very curious to meet a new crew member--especially if they were Androsian.

***

“It’s an interplanetary port, right?” Jared mused aloud from his perch atop the workbench in the engine room. “So really, they could find another human or some other non-Terran, but do you think it might be an Androsian?”

Captain Morgan and First Officer Whitfield had ventured out early to scout for potential Communications Officers. It was now approaching supper time, and they hadn’t returned. The curiosity was driving Jared crazy, leading him to do the same to everyone else. He’d already been chased out of the cargo bay, galley, and infirmary.

Jim looked up from his work long enough to glower at him before turning back to one of the pieces of equipment Jared couldn’t even begin to name. “I’ve got a lot of prep work to do before we ship out, you know. Shouldn’t you be re-checking the inventory and securing the cargo or something?”

“There’s still plenty of time for that,” Jared cheerfully dismissed the suggestion. “Hey, aren’t all Androsians male?”

“No,” Jim corrected long-sufferingly, “it just seems that way. They only have one gender, but it looks more like our males, so that’s how we perceive it or some such thing. Didn’t you listen when Charles briefed everybody?”

One of the First Officer’s duties was to review diplomatic protocols with the crew before planetfall. Jared _might_ not have been paying full attention to that meeting... “Oh yeah. They’re kind of something in between or a little of both, right? That’s gotta be pretty wild.”

“I reckon it’s just normal for them, and _we_ seem weird.”

“I guess.” 

Jared’s ears perked at the sound of the freighter’s excursion shuttle re-docking. Part of the reason he’d stayed here in the engine room so long, despite Jim’s hints to move on already, was so that he would know when Jeff and Charles returned. He hopped down and headed for the hall, long legs working to his advantage to catch up to the shorter men.

“Hey, Boss,” he called out, “did you find any possibilities, yet?”

Jeff and Charles exchanged a pointed glance. “We’re pretty sure we found our best option,” Jeff answered after a pause for thought, “but there are some...special circumstances we’ll have to consider.”

Instead of heading to their quarters or the galley as Jared expected, their next stop was the infirmary, where they closed and locked the door behind them. Jared’s curiosity was only heightened further.

***

After dinner, and while everyone was still gathered in one place, Captain Morgan made an announcement. 

“Charles and I didn’t find very many options for a new Communications Officer,” he began. “Most already had a crew and weren’t willing to leave them, and that’s understandable. We found one possibility who’s really very skilled in translation and we think might fit in around here okay, but he’s not exactly what most of you would expect.” Instead of elaborating on that further, Jeff continued, “I want to get an idea of how you all might mesh by having him come by the ship tomorrow morning. It’s better to know if we’re gonna have trouble before we’re all stuck out in deep space.”

Speculation ran rampant among everyone other than Jeff, Charles, and Dr. Collins. The three who were actually in the know refused to reveal anything, so the others were left to very fertile imaginations. Everything from a secret criminal history to some kind of grotesque deformity were suggested. Sleep came slowly to Jared as ever wilder scenarios flashed through his mind.

***

The main entry to the ship for outsiders was through the main cargo bay, so Jared was happy to take the busy work task of making certain all the cargo had been properly scanned into the ship’s databanks. He was hoping to be the first to get a look at their potential crew mate, and he wasn’t disappointed.

He had his back turned to the open bay door, looking for the elusive scan code on a crate of mining machinery when a soft voice behind him asked in Alliance Standard so flawless it might have been a tutorial recording, “Excuse me, I believe I have an appointment to see your captain and meet your crew?”

Jared whipped around with a grin, extending his right hand. “I’m Jared. It’s nice to meet you!”

Jared found himself staring into one of the most attractive faces he’d ever seen. He hoped his mouth wasn’t hanging open! It was only when he allowed his gaze to take in the body that went along with that face that he found himself staring for another reason and realized this wasn’t a human man as he had first assumed.

“You’re pregnant!” he blurted and then felt like an idiot for stating the obvious.

“Very,” the stranger agreed. He brought both his hands forward to rest protectively over the protruding belly. He’d need a lot more than two hands to cover _that_ impressive swell, though!

Jared forced himself to be at least _semi_ professional. “If you’ll follow me, I’ll show you to the bridge.”

“Thank you.”

This guy was cute _and_ polite! Jared wouldn’t mind having him around at all. Of course, the baby probably meant he was involved with someone. Jared hadn’t seen a wedding ring, but that wasn’t even a custom observed by all humans.

“So, if you don’t mind me asking, do you know what you’re having?” Jared hated silence, so he might as well make conversation.

“Twins,” the stranger answered.

“Oh! What about the genders?”

The man snorted. “Well, Androsians only _have_ the _one._ ” 

“Right.” He had some spunk and sarcasm, too! He’d need that, if they decided to bring him onto _this_ crew.

They reached the bridge and Captain Morgan called everyone to the galley, where there was better seating for the whole crew, and some snacks had been prepared so they could all mingle and “get to know” their potential new crew mate, Jensen Ackles, as the captain had finally introduced him.

Except it sort of ended up being everyone staring at Jensen and the Androsian fidgeting uncomfortably. It was embarrassing for everyone, really.

Jared knew it was the alienness of Jensen’s pregnancy that was throwing everyone off their game. Humans were notorious for resistance to new ideas and peoples. Earth had been a member of the Alliance for over a century now, and most diplomatic incidents and other misunderstandings were human related in some way.

Jared had only spoken to Jensen for a few moments in the hall, but he already knew he was someone that could get along well with everyone aboard, if they would just give it a chance! So, Jared did what he was especially good at, besides lifting heavy things and operating loading equipment aboard the freighter--he was friendly.

He loaded two plates with the best of Sam’s goody spread and sat down next to Jensen.

“So, I don’t know if there’s anything you’re not eating right now--my sister-in-law couldn’t stand garlic when she was pregnant with my nephew--but I can tell you that everything on that plate is awesome.”

Jensen blinked at the heap of food and then chuckled. “Okay, I know I’m eating for three, but there’s _no way_ I can eat all that!”

Jared grinned back and shrugged. “I’ll eat what you can’t after I finish mine.”

“Seriously?” Jensen looked both impressed and appalled.

“Yeah,” Samantha cut in with a warm chuckle, “our boy Jared is pretty much a bottomless pit.”

“Just make sure there’s nothing on there with beans,” Charles warned with a grimace.

Just like that, the ice was broken, and Jared was happy to see that soon everyone was getting along famously. The future was looking bright.


	2. New Arrivals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The babies are born.

Jared was certainly no expert on babies or having them, so he’d been convinced Jensen was ready to pop any day when they’d first met, but it apparently wasn’t so. Jensen had joined the crew over three weeks ago, and if the Androsian’s belly had seemed huge _then..._

“Stop staring at it, or I won’t let you feel the next time they’re moving,” Jensen scolded him with a roll of his eyes. They both knew it was a lie. Jensen was not yet immune to Jared’s infamous puppy face. He had also given Jared and the others free rein to talk to the babies because it was apparently an important Androsian custom that close friends and family’s voices be recognized by the babies when they were born, and Jared was constantly talking to and feeling the twins, usually to Jensen’s amusement. Jared had nicknamed them J3 and J4, declaring himself J1 and Jensen J2.

“What about Jeff?” Jensen had asked, laughing. “Shouldn’t the captain be J1?”

“Nah,” Jared insisted. “Jeff is just _Jeff._ ”

Jared sat next to Jensen on the galley table bench after a yawn and stretch.

Later he would blame not having had any coffee yet that morning, but he found himself asking, “Why would you leave your home so close to giving birth?”

He and Jensen were good friends now, but still working under the assumption that Jensen must be in some kind of relationship, Jared had tried to avoid getting too personal. 

Jensen’s eyes went distant and he rubbed absently at his laden middle.

“I no longer had anything to keep me there.” 

There was a long pause, and Jared thought Jensen was finished sharing, but he began speaking again. “My family were killed by the plague.” Andros’ population had been decimated by a disease they had no means to treat and was only survived by a small percentage of patients. It was part of the reason Andros had finally agreed to join the Alliance, for the promise of medical aid. 

“I was all alone until I met my bondmate.” Jared must have looked confused because Jensen explained, “The other parent of my babies.” 

Jared knew without asking from Jensen’s expression, but he voiced the question anyway. “He died, too?”

Jensen nodded. “At the raid on Belketh. He was a doctor.”

Jared winced. That would always be known as “The Raid” on Andros. It had almost lost the Alliance the planet again. The day the promised medicine was delivered, space pirates had raided the hospital, killing a large number of Androsians and stealing most of the supplies to be sold on the black market. It had happened seven months ago and been the reason the reception at Androsian ports was still frosty to outsiders.

“Andros resists change, and I’m sure that if they don’t start to embrace it, it will soon be a dead world. It was time to move on.” Jensen looked up and the sorrow melted away into a small smile. “I like it much better here.”

Jared let him change the subject to new languages Jensen had been learning in the time between planetary stops and silently made a vow to make certain Jensen never regretted joining this crew.

***

Three days later, Jared stumbled into the galley in search of food and coffee, not necessarily in that order, to find Jensen absent and the others chattering excitedly about something. When he realized Dr. Collins was also missing, he made a bee line for the infirmary.

He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but Misha and Jensen both seated on one of the medical cots humming wasn’t it.

“So, uh, I guess you’re not actually having the babies?” he asked after they glanced up to acknowledge his presence.

“No, I am,” Jensen answered briefly before returning to the humming.

“What are you-”

“The humming should be helping calm the babies, but I don’t think my voice is quite familiar enough to them,” Dr. Collins cut him off to explain. “Why don’t you take over for me, and I’ll get my equipment ready?”

Jared shrugged and took a seat next to Jensen. The Androsian winced every now and again, violent movement from his offspring visible from the outside. Jared, borderline tone deaf as he was, did his best to match Jensen’s sustained note and watched in amazement as the flailing calmed. Jensen released a relieved sigh before continuing to hum.

Jared noted that his friend had removed his shirt, but was still wearing his pants. That seemed a little odd, but not as odd as the other thing that caught his attention.

“You don’t have a belly button!”

Jensen blinked at him. “Of course I do, but it’s under my pouch flap.”

“Your _what?_ ”

Gasping suddenly, Jensen placed a hand to the side of his belly as a clear liquid began bubbling from somewhere near the top of his stomach, which was all kinds of weird! Upon closer inspection, what Jared had thought was just a crease in the skin was actually a slitted opening running from one side of Jensen’s abdomen to the other.

“ _Oh!_ Like a kangaroo,” Jared declared in awe.

“I take it human women don’t have pouches?” Jensen asked cheekily in between panting breaths.

Jared shook his head, hoping to avoid any further stupid commentary on his part. 

Jensen flailed blindly for a moment with the hand not on his stomach until he found Jared’s hand and squeezed it. He closed his eyes and let out a long, low moan. His belly moved in a very odd way, as though something fairly large were crawling upward from the bottom to the top beneath the skin, more of the fluid pouring from the pouch opening. 

“Stop...staring at it,” Jensen managed to joke.

“Or what?” Jared challenged. 

“Or I won’t let you help name them.”

Misha returned, nudging Jared to the side and then reaching into the pouch and removing a squirming infant so he could clamp and cut the umbilical cord and wrestle the child into a diaper. He handed the now squalling baby off to Jared so he could return his focus to Jensen. Jared tried the humming again, and the tiny Androsian calmed down, joining in with a much higher pitched hum.

“Wow.” Jared marveled at the tiny, slightly slimy, wrinkled, and utterly perfect little creature in his hands. “Birth is gross, but that’s totally not as awful as the way humans do it.”

Misha absently pointed at a blanket lying folded nearby. “Keep him warm until his twin joins us and we can put them back in the pouch.”

“Put them _back in?_ ” Jared asked as he awkwardly swaddled the baby, belatedly remembering to hum to keep him calm.

“Yes,” Jensen explained between groans. “Androsian babies...live in the pouch...for a few weeks after birth...for safety and bonding.”

Jensen gritted his teeth and grunted, the same strange motion under his skin heralding the first baby happening again, the other twin emerging from the birth opening in the bottom of the pouch. Misha fished him out as well. Baby number two was a bit larger than the first.

Dr. Collins gave the infants a quick examination and then eased them back inside Jensen’s pouch. Without all the fluids, his belly was smaller, but still very pregnant looking.

“Isn’t there an afterbirth or anything?” Jared wondered.

“Jensen’s body will reabsorb the placenta,” Dr. Collins explained. Jensen lay back, both hands resting on his stomach and his eyelids drooping heavily. “Let’s leave them alone to rest, shall we?”

“You can stay,” Jensen mumbled, chin hitting his chest. “I don’t mind.” So Jared stayed.

***

Jared didn’t realize he’d nodded off himself until he woke up to find Jensen nursing one of the twins and cradling the other as he slept.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” Jensen greeted softly, so as not to disturb the slumbering baby. “You didn’t even do any of the hard work.”

“I never got any coffee this morning!” Jared defended himself.

“A likely story.”

They both spent a few moments of comfortable silence admiring the twins.

“Did you mean it?” Jared finally asked.

“Hm?”

“You know, that I could help name them?”

“You already did.”

“What, J3 and J4?” Jared joked.

“Sort of.” Jensen adjusted the sleeping baby, the larger, second born. “I’m going to call this big guy Jay. I decided to name the firstborn after his father. It’s not a J name--will that ruin everything?”

“We’ve got plenty of Js around here,” Jared conceded with a shrug. “I _guess_ Captain Morgan can be J4, if he really wants.”

Jensen chuckled. “Then this little guy is Alfor.”

“Welcome to the family, kids.”

Jensen smiled at Jared. “Thanks for being there for me during the delivery. It was a lot to ask of you.” It _wasn’t_ really, but Jared wasn’t going to argue.

“I’m happy to help out however I can, any time.” He meant it sincerely, too.


	3. New Beginnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jensen has unexpected skills.

The freighter was nearing the end of her route, with only one frontier mining asteroid to deliver to before she reported back to the company headquarters on Earth. Jared began to worry about whether Jensen intended to stay with the crew. He wasn’t a trained Communications Officer, and the company would really have final say at the end of the trip, since Jensen had been hired on as an emergency substitute only. Jared didn’t like to dwell on him leaving because he had become thoroughly attached!

The twins were a little over a month old and were now carried around in sling-like carriers that made them look like strange, lumpy cocoons attached to their father. It was strange to see Jensen without the belly, though Jared found that the Androsian’s body was quite attractive now that he could actually see all of it. In fact, Jensen was in impressive shape, and it turned out those cute bow legs _weren’t_ just because of the pregnancy.

As a freight loader and unloader, Jared didn’t have all that many job tasks while the ship wasn’t in a port, so he hung around Jensen’s work station on the bridge, taking turns helping to change and entertain the babies.

Jared was still working on getting past the fear that he was going to drop or otherwise damage Jensen’s children. He had just finished cautiously putting a dry diaper on Jay, who was an ambush pee attacker, and lifted the baby to make faces at him.

Most of Jensen’s focus was on listening to the airwave chatter, but he still rolled his eyes at Jared’s antics. “I swear, my children will either grow up thinking you’re terribly unstable or have no idea how to behave properly because of your example.”

“Better that than creepy, little robot children with perfect manners,” Jared countered.

Jensen opened his mouth to respond but then paused to hold a hand to his ear piece, frowning. He listened intently for a few moments, scribbling down notes on a data pad kept handy for that reason.

“Watch the boys for a minute?” he asked, handing Alfor over into Jared’s arms as well before hurrying over to the captain.

Something was up. Jensen looked very worried as he explained whatever he’d heard to the captain in a low tone. Jeff called over Charles and Lauren. If she was getting called in on it, it definitely wasn’t anything good. 

Lauren was the legal representative of the company. She knew all the rules and regulations chapter and verse, and any major changes had to be cleared with her as the corporate proxy.

By the end of the conversation, none of them looked particularly happy, but Jensen’s expression was particularly dour. He looked like he wanted to argue whatever his point had been further, but he headed back to his station instead, body tense.

“What’s wrong?” Jared asked.

At first, Jensen didn’t say anything; he took the twins gently from Jared and held them close, taking a few deep breaths and humming lowly to himself. It was that Androsian calming technique he’d used during the birth, so Jared was getting really alarmed now because he couldn’t recall seeing Jensen so rattled since the twins had come into the world.

“Jensen?” he asked again.

“Known pirate vessels have been spotted in this area,” Jensen finally answered. “The Alliance peacekeeping vessel for the region already passed through here and won’t be back again for days unless ordered or they receive a distress signal.”

Pirates. Jared could certainly understand why Jensen would be especially upset, having heard about his past. “I’ve been on this freighter for this route before several times, and we’ve never had any problems.” Jared tried to sound reassuring.

“That’s what everyone else said.” Jensen’s frown deepened. 

“We’re totally safe,” Jared insisted. Jensen snorted.

“The security on board this ship is a _joke._ In port, you just leave the hatches open so that anyone could wander by and take stock of your cargo and the general layout of the hold, no one on board is allowed weaponry because it’s considered a ‘liability’ by the company, and we don’t even encrypt our transmissions, so every single one is like a flashing sign saying ‘Hey, here we are--come pillage us!’”

Jared blinked. That was probably the longest speech he’d ever heard from Jensen. The guy sure seemed to know a lot about security, but Jared supposed if the love of _his_ life had been killed by space pirates, he might be a bit paranoid about security, too.

“The captain used to be in the space corps, and most of us have taken some kind of self defense classes.” Jared hoped he was sounding soothing and not just patronizing. “If push came to shove, none of us would let anything happen to you.”

“I’m not worried about _me._ ”

“Or the twins.”

Jensen gave him a look like he was a complete idiot and started to leave. He paused in the doorway and turned back toward Jared and the others on the bridge. “I sure hope you’re all right because if we do get attacked, it’s going to be ugly.” With those parting words, he retreated to his quarters.

***

Jensen was unfortunately proven right three days later. Their course took them through an asteroid field. 

“Perfect place for an ambush,” Jensen grumbled under his breath. It was very much the truth.

The pirates hit them with an electromagnetic pulse that momentarily fried all their systems and left them hanging like a sitting duck. The fancy reinforced door to the bridge did absolutely no good without power to close it. 

The pirates crammed them all onto the flight deck and then their captain and a few others took Morgan and Whitfield with them to show them any hidden stashes of goods not in the main hold. Two pirates were left to guard the rest of them.

Jensen hushed the babies, who perhaps picking up on everyone’s tension were fussy.

“Who brings infants into deep space?” One of their captors scoffed. “Should’ve left the kiddies at home with Mommy.”

Jensen just glowered at their guard.

“Leave him alone,” Jared found himself butting in. “You just have to guard us--you don’t have to be assholes about it.”

The pirate sauntered over to him, placing the barrel of his laser pistol under Jared’s chin. “We’ll do whatever we want. Besides, we’re probably gonna end up killing all of you so you don’t send a distress call out as soon as we leave.”

Jared hadn’t wanted to think these guys were that bloodthirsty.

“Maybe we’ll start with you and your big mouth. Right, Fred?” With a gun in his face and a pirate right in front of him, Jared couldn’t focus on much else in the room, but there was suspicious silence from the other pirate. “Fred?”

The guy with the gun on Jared turned to look, and Jared peered over his shoulder. Fred was out cold on the floor, and Jensen was about a foot away from them exuding righteous indignation. “Fred can’t talk right now.”

Then in the time it took Jared to blink twice and let his mouth fall open, Jensen dropped to the ground in a crouch and swept the pirate’s feet out from under him. He put the man in a sleeper hold until he went limp and then for a few moments after.

Everyone was staring at Jensen in shock, which he ignored, instead disarming the pirate and adding the weapons to those already on his person from the second man that Jared was sorry he hadn’t seen his friend take down. 

“Someone should tie these two up,” Jensen suggested, kicking not-Fred in the side none too gently. “Keep an eye on the kids for me?” he asked Lauren and Sam, who were currently holding the twins. They nodded blankly. Jensen headed for the door.

“Where are you going?” Jared asked.

“I’m going to go try to rescue our captain and first officer,” Jensen answered calmly. He made it sound like he was running an errand and not confronting armed bandits!

“I’ll go with you.”

Jensen sighed. “I don’t have time to try and talk you out of it. Anyone else want to come along?” There weren’t any other takers.

As they slunk silently down the hall, Jared couldn’t help but ask a question that had been burning in his mind since he saw Jensen take out two space pirates easy as breathing.

“Hey, Jensen? What was your last job before you became our substitute Communications Officer?”

Jensen looked slightly embarrassed--it was adorable. “Private security. I would have applied for that, but this company wouldn’t give Morgan the funding for a Chief of Security, so I took what I could get. Now shut up, or you’ll give us away!”

They slipped into the cargo hold and hid behind a stack of machinery crates. The pirate captain could be heard interrogating Morgan on the other side of the hold. He could also hear the sounds of several crates being forced open, the pirates verifying the containers really held what was on the labels.

Jensen breathed out and then whispered so softly Jared had to strain to hear. “I think I can take the remaining pirates out, but just in case, I’ll leave this with you.” He pressed a large weapon previously belonging to Fred into Jared’s hands. “It’s a pulse cannon. I’ve set it to stun, so all you have to do is blast the group, and it’ll knock us all out and you can tie up the pirates. No one has to get seriously hurt. Understand?”

Jared just nodded, not trusting himself to answer quietly enough. As Jensen faded into the shadows like a ghost, Jared found a convenient gap in the crates to aim through and watch while he was at it.

He felt a thrill as he watched the spread out, searching pirates get pulled into the dark corners of the room one by one. Jensen was amazing! No wonder he’d rolled his eyes at the idea of the crew protecting him--he was a one man army.

The pirate captain backhanded Morgan and Jared winced in sympathy.

“If this mining gear is really all you have, this has been a serious waste of my time,” the pirate snarled.

“Maybe you should just be on your way, then,” Jeff retorted defiantly.

The pirate captain drew his side arm and aimed at Jeff. “Better tie up loose ends before we leave.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” Jensen declared before he seemed to drop from the ceiling, though it was probably just the top of a crate stack, and onto the pirate holding Charles. He then tackled the baffled pirate leader before he had a chance to react.

The Androsian pressed his right forearm firmly into his opponents throat. “Did you leave any men on your ship?” The man refused to answer. Jensen jabbed him in a sensitive area with a laser pistol. “Answer or start singing soprano,” Jensen threatened in a voice that made Jared think all sorts of inappropriate things.

“No,” the pirate grudgingly admitted. Jensen flipped the gun in his hand around and knocked him out with a blow to the temple.

***

Later, once the pirates had all been locked in the infirmary, safely sedated by Misha, and the Alliance vessel had responded to their distress signal, everyone took a few moments to process their close call.

“I’m not sure I can look at you the same after all that,” Jared joked.

Jensen looked sad. “I’m sorry. I was getting the impression that you kind of liked me, but I’ve probably scared you off now, huh?”

“Are you kidding?” Jared grinned. “Watching you be all badass was totally sexy!”

Jensen blushed. “Really?”

Captain Morgan walked over before Jared could respond. His expression was solemn. “I’m going to have to look for a new Communications Officer.”

Jensen blanched. “I understand.” He didn’t look happy about it, and Jared was pretty furious himself. “I could have put everyone in danger by my actions, and I acted without your permission.”

Now the corners of Jeff’s mouth quirked into a small smirk. “I’ll need a new Communications Officer _because_ I’m going to insist that the company let me bring you on as security. If you want the job, of course.”

“Thank you, sir!”

Lauren walked over to drop off the twins into Jensen’s eagerly awaiting arms. “You know,” she offered in a mock casual tone, “relationships among the crew are completely acceptable as long as neither party is directly in charge of the other and a disclosure form is filed. They’re available upon request.”

“We’ll take two, please.” Jared hoped he wasn’t moving too fast and making assumptions, but from the look in Jensen’s eyes, the future was looking better and better.


End file.
